Posts Tagged ‘motorcycle’

Wild Hogs is a movie that probably sounded great on paper, but ended up looking like it was specifically engineered for me to hate. “Let’s take a bunch of middle-aged actors known for taking softball family comedy rolls, make them suburban Dads, slap them on Harley’s and make a road picture! Wait, what’s that? Ray Romano dropped out? Well, who can we get to replace him? William H. Macy?… He doesn’t quite fit, but what the hell!”

If I can take a sidebar for a moment, seriously, what is William H. Macy doing in this movie? He always struck me as more of an Actor’s actor, if you know what I mean. High-minded. Accomplished. Uh… y’know, talented. I mean, he found The Atlantic Theater with David Mamet, for crying out loud!

I have it in my head that his participation in this movie has to be rooted in some deep Machevelian scheme to get close to John Travolta, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence in hopes of tapping into their influence within Hollywood. For whatever reason, studio executives keep tossing money to those chuckleheads. Maybe Macy thought he could do a little networking and get one of them to produce one of his projects in the future. It’s the only way I can still respect him as an actor.

I find Wild Hogs offensive as a concept because it’s another example of mainstream media coddling Baby Boomers and re-enforcing this ideal that they are more special than anyone else. I’ve talked about this before, but this movie seems to be like The Perfect Storm of boomer self-absorption.

It’s this whole “Let’s do what we want” attitude that turns me off. Buying a Harley and talking your friends into a cross country trip. How does this fill a hole in your existence? What about your family? What about a little self-examination? No, let’s buy an expensive toy and ditch our responsibilities for three weeks. Disgusting.

Every time I think I’ve put a bow on an arc, I always think of different ways that I could stretch it into infinity.

Today’s comic was supposed to be the end of the Shia LaBeouf arc. But obviously the way I’ve set up the punchline in today’s comic, there has to be some kind of action taken against Shia next week, don’t you think?

So far this week, I think I’ve made a pretty good case against Shia – both in the comic and in the blog. I wanted to squeeze more examples into today’s comic, but there wasn’t enough room in the second panel to do that.

Regardless of the damming testimony I’ve come up with so far, I knew that photo from the set of the upcoming Indiana Jones movie was my secret weapon. First of all, that leather jacket isn’t working for me. It communicates only one thing – “Greaser.” I don’t need you screwing up my Indiana Jones movie with any shenanigans from Grease.

Second, Shia SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING THE MOTORCYCLE WITH INDIANA JONES RIDING BITCH! You want to ride a motorcycle, that’s fine. Here’s a Vespa. But if you’re hanging out with Indiana Jones – guess what? – HE’S DRIVING!

You want another reason to hate Shia? Check out this production photo from the set of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT MOUSTACHE? KNOCK IT OFF!

Probably the most dispiriting aspect of this whole Shia debacle is that he appears to have become Steven Spielberg’s protege. And with Vanity Fair declaring him “the next Tom Hanks,” there are too many favorable associations floating around this kid. Did he make some kind of bargain with Lucifer? Because, if not, I think we should all strongly consider having Steven Spielberg committed to a mental institution.

I realize that Jimmy looks a little bit like a leather daddy or some kind of Judas Priest reject if you don’t understand the visual reference I’m making with today’s strip. That’s why I was so explicit in his visual representation.

Need a clue?

Perhaps a more contemporary take?

If you’re still at a loss, Google the title of today’s strip and get back to me. Hey – at least I was good enough to toss in a Pee Wee’s Big Adventure reference, right? Or does that not apply to anyone born after 1982?

I’ve only done a couple ofsingle-panel strips like this one and it always kind of feels like a cheat. But at the same time, they are a relief to do because I don’t have to worry about moving characters around or being responsible for multiple expressions. Despite my guilt, I think they turn out really well. I guess it’s a change of pace.

I hope you like today’s comic. It signals our transition into full-scale flashback territory. Next week is all about Jimmy’s rebellious past. Ain’t I a stinker for making you wait for it? All the more reason to keep checking the site, right?

I’m still eager to see Push, but I’ve been reading so many over-the-moon reviews for Coraline, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t switch my focus.

Coraline looked like the kind of movie that I would have been content to let slip through the theaters and then catch on DVD later. But I guess I hadn’t been paying attention to the fact that the film is also being presented in 3D, and I almost always fall for that when I presume the content of the film to be bearable.

I don’t want to give the impression that 3D is the only thing that would pull me into the theater on this one, but it kind of put things over the top. I mean, stop-motion in 3D – has that been done before?

At any rate, it looks like a great weekend for movies and I’m excited to go out there and see ’em. Which movie do you think will take the box office crown? Are you surprised by The Pink Panther 2’s 8% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes? What do you think about today’s strip? Are you excited to see Jimmy’s past life as a motorcycle punk?

Well, that’s the end of it. Now you know the story of Jimmy’s and Charlie’s past. Will they get together in the future? Time will tell. But for now, consider this chapter closed.

Sincere thanks to everyone for indulging me these last few weeks. It was important for me to do this. I know longer story lines aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they help me from going stir crazy. It helps me shake the cobwebs off, creatively-speaking. It’s easy for me to fall into a “talking heads” kind of situation and these longer story line with their specific demands help me break free of that.

I suppose if I wasn’t completely afraid of alienating people this storyline could have gone on a little longer. There were a few contrivances that I used to get the characters where I needed them to be. But, compared to when I first introduced Charlie and wandered, lost in the desert for two months, I think this was a nice piece of economical story telling.

Agghh. You know what? I feel like I’ve been defending this story line since day one. I need to stop that. The majority of you – and I’m talking, like 95% of you – have been great. So encouraging and helpful. I really appreciate it. I need to stop apologizing for doing a longer story line.

I have a bad habit of defending myself before I’m even attacked and I can see that being very annoying to people who are already on my side. So you know what? This story line was AWESOME and I had a blast doing it.

What else is there to say? Well, I’m working on a t-shirt design for “KISS EACH OTHER WITH YOUR MOUTHS” and I’m going to see Watchmen this weekend. Other than that, Cami is having a girls night out and I’m going to do more comic stuff this evening.

It’s been a stressful week for me. I had my first performance review at my new job, my first physical in 15 years, a midterm and worked hard to try and end this storyline in a way I could be proud of. I had a lot on my plate. So I think now I’m just looking forward to relaxing a little bit.

We’re back to regular comics on Monday. It’s a safe bet I’ll be talking about Watchmen.